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Ebirah, Horror of the Deep
Walter Reade Organization |releasedate=December 17, 1966 |rating=Not rated |budget=¥???,???,??? |boxoffice=¥300,030,000 |runningtime=87 minutes 82 minutes |designs=DaisensoGoji GojiMosuImago ShodaiEbira |website= |previous=''Invasion of Astro-Monster'' |next=''Son of Godzilla'' }}Ebirah, Horror of the Deep is a 1966 produced by Toho Company Ltd., and the seventh installment in the ''Godzilla'' series as well as the Showa series. The film was released to Japanese theaters on December 17, 1966. Plot After his brother Yata is lost at sea, young Ryota Kane steals a yacht with his two friends and a bank robber. This motley crew runs afoul of sea monster Ebirah, and washes up on the shore of Devil's Island, where a terrorist organization manufactures heavy water for their nefarious purposes, as well as a chemical that keeps Ebirah at bay. The organization, Red Bamboo, has enslaved natives from Infant Island to help them, but the natives hope to awaken a dormant Mothra to rescue them. In their efforts to avoid capture, Ryota and his friends, aided by a beautiful native girl, stumble across Godzilla sleeping within a cliffside cavern. The group devises a plan to defeat the Red Bamboo and escape from the island. In the process, they wake Godzilla using a lightning rod. Godzilla fights Ebirah, but the giant shrimp escapes. Godzilla is then attacked by a giant condor and a squadron of Red Bamboo fighter jets, but destroys them. The humans retrieve the missing Yata, free the enslaved natives and Godzilla begins to destroy the base. Godzilla smashes a tower that has a self destruct button that makes the island unstable. Godzilla fights Ebirah and defeats it, ripping off both Ebirah's claws and causing it to retreat into the sea. The natives summon Mothra to save everyone, however, Godzilla challenges Mothra when she gets to the island. Mothra manages to push Godzilla away and carry the people off. Godzilla escapes the island just before it explodes. Staff Cast Appearances Monsters *Godzilla (DaisensoGoji) *Ebirah (ShodaiEbira) *Mothra (GojiMosuImago) *Giant Condor Weapons, Vehicles, and Races *Shobijin *Red Bamboo Fighter Jet *Red Bamboo Ship Soundtrack Alternate titles *''Godzilla, Ebirah, Mothra: Great Duel in the South Seas'' (Literal Japanese title) *''Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster'' (United States) *''The Monsters from the Sea'' (Los monstruos del mar; Spain) *''Godzilla versus the Terror of the Seas'' (Godzilla contra el terror de los mares; Mexico) *''Ebirah, horror of the seas, versus Godzilla'' (Ebirah, terror de los mares, vs. Godzilla; Mexico) *''Ebirah, Horror in the Depths!'' (Ebirah, horror en las profundidades!; Colombia) *''Ebirah versus Godzilla'' (Ebirah contre Godzilla; France) *''Frankenstein and the Monster from the Ocean'' (Frankenstein und die ungeheuer aus dem meer; Germany) *''The Return of Godzilla'' (Il ritorno di Godzilla; Italy) *''Godzilla, King of the Monsters'' (Godzilla, uhyernes konge; Sweden) *''Ebirah: The Monster of Magic'' (EBIRAH - POTWOR Z GŁĘBIN; Poland) *''Mothra the Flying Dracula Monster'' (Motta het vligiende Dracula monster; Holland) *''Ebirah: Monster Island'' (Ebirah, canavarlar adasi; Turkey) Theatrical releases *Japan - December 17, 1966 *United States - 1968 *Germany - 1969 *France - 1981 U.S. release In 1968, Ebirah, Horror of the Deep was released directly to television in North America by the Walter Reade Organization, under the title Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster. It was the first Godzilla film to not receive North American theatrical distribution. There were several small alterations made: *Dialogue was dubbed to English. *Captain Ryuui's name was changed to Yamoto. Ebirah and the Red Bamboo are never referred to by name. *Deleted: The opening credits sequence. This version features only the title card reading "Godzilla versus the Sea Monster." *Deleted: A scene where Ryota goes to the Maritime Safety office and sees a poster on the wall for a dance contest. *Deleted: Rock music that played in the Japanese version during Godzilla and Ebirah's battle. In 2005, released Ebirah, Horror of the Deep on DVD in North America for the first time. Their DVD release included the original Japanese audio track for the film as well as Toho's international English dub. Interestingly, TriStar chose to release the film under its original U.S. title, Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, rather than under its official international English title, as it had done in most of its other releases. TriStar even created a brand new English title card for the film reading "Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster," replacing the international title card. In 2014, Kraken Releasing released the film under its international title for the first time in the U.S. on DVD and Blu-Ray. However, this release still included TriStar's English title card. Box office When Ebirah, Horror of the Deep was released theatrically in Japan on December 17, 1966, it had an attendance of 3,450,000. When the film was re-issued on July 22, 1972, it received 760,000 attendees, adding up to a total of roughly 4,210,000 tickets sold. Reception Ebirah, Horror of the Deep has received mixed reviews from the Godzilla fanbase, with some fans praising its unique story, interesting characters, and focus on human action over monster battles, while others have criticized its lack of monster screentime, the appearance of the Godzilla suit, and the fact that Godzilla seemed out of place in the film (possibly due to the role originally being written for King Kong). Home media releases Toho (2003) *Released: 2003 *Region: Region 2 *Language: Japanese Madman (2005) *Released: 2005 *Region: Region 4 (2005)[http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00006IUGR Amazon.com - Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (1966)] *Released: February 8, 2005 *Region: Region 1 *Language: Japanese, English *Format: Color, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen *Other Details: 2.35:1 aspect ratio, 83 minutes run time, 1 disc, Japanese and American versions Kraken Releasing (2014)[http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00I462XF2 Amazon.com - Ebirah Horror of the Deep (1966)] *Released: May 6, 2014 *Region: Region 1 *Language: Japanese *Format: Multiple Formats, Color, NTSC, Widescreen *Other Details: 1.77:1 aspect ratio, 88 minutes run time, 1 disc, version Kraken Releasing (2014) *Blu-ray *Released: May 6, 2014 *Language: Japanese, English Trivia *This is the first Godzilla film in which an uncharted island is the primary setting rather than a location inside Japan. *Originally, this film was titled Operation Robinson Crusoe: King Kong vs. Ebirah, and starred King Kong instead of Godzilla. This is why Godzilla draws strength from electricity and exhibits a sort of attraction to the female protagonist, Daiyo, traits previously associated with King Kong. It also explains why neither of Godzilla's opponents in the film possess special abilities and why Godzilla attacked Mothra despite having been allies with her previously, as Kong had never met Mothra. Rankin/Bass Productions, who had provided Toho with the license to Kong in order to co-produce a tie-in film for their cartoon The King Kong Show, reportedly felt the film did not follow the show closely enough, so Toho replaced Kong in the film with Godzilla and produced King Kong Escapes instead the very next year. *The Godzilla suit used for this film is the same "DaisensoGoji" suit used the previous year for Invasion of Astro-Monster. This is the last movie where this suit is used throughout. References Do you like Ebirah, Horror of the Deep? Yes! No. Kind of. de:Frankenstein und die Ungeheuer aus dem Meer es:Ebirah, Horror of the Deep Category:1960s films Category:Japanese films Category:Showa era - Films (Godzilla franchise)